Hall of the Fire Giant King

At last, the players in my Swords & Wizardry campaign came to the last of the Giant Series adventures, The Hall of the Fire Giant King. They had to get some information out of the spirit of the dead Frost Giant Jarl first, and then it was off to the Fire Giant. As written, the Fire Giant dungeon has the King right in one of the first rooms the players are likely to enter. He sent his guards to deal with the players and slipped out a secret door. But this leads to either a dead-end treasure vault or his personal quarters where he can pick up more giants for help. I assumed we would do the latter. The players were on the Fire Giant King's trail so quickly he did not get a chance to get further away than his quarters, and then magic spells brought him down.

The adventure ended there. The players did not see a reason to go on. They learned that the Drow were behind the attacks on the human realm but they reasoned that the Drow would not be able to fight on without their pawns. They could not survive in the sunlight. The beautiful maps I had for levels 2 and 3 of the dungeon were for naught. I even spent some time prepping the Underdark in case the players decided to pursue the Drow.

Comparing the three dungeons, the players enjoyed the Glacial Rift the most. They spent much time exploring the ice caves on either side of the rift. They loved the encounter with the pair of white dragons and the final showdown with the Jarl. The Steading of the Hill Giants was one big melee after another. The Hall of the Fire Giants was anti-climatic.

Session 174: The Hall of the Fire Giant King

Lakima (human magic user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aldus (human cavalier), Ambro Feyvine (elven thief), Domago (human cleric NPC), Ian of Darkhollow (human cavalier NPC), Aelshara (half-elven magic user/fighter), Luna (charmed Human Fighter NPC).

The Company of the Black Dragon has just killed Jarl Grugnur, leader of the Frost Giants. They had hoped to question the Jarl about the attacks on Human lands while he was still alive, but he fought to the death. Their new Storm Giant friend Uldinia carries the dead body of the Jarl of the Frost Giants as the Company leaves the Glacial Rift. Lakima still has the repulsion spell functioning on him.

Lakima made his way in silence through the caves until he entered the ice tunnels. Ahead, he heard movement, and when he entered one of the caves that the Frost Giants used as a guardpost, he saw almost a dozen yeti in the cave. The Yeti yelped in confusion when they found they could not pounce upon Lakima who looked undefended.

“Death!” Lakima hissed and cast the death spell. All of the Yeti collapsed in heaps on the cave floor. All dead from Lakima’s powerful magic. Lakima reached the ledge of the glacial rift and began the long climb to the glacier. Climbing up the steps carved for giants took almost an hour. Reaching the glacier, Lakima dispelled the repulsion spell. Ten minutes later, the rest of the Company joined him,  with Uldinia striding at the party's rear carrying the dead Jarl.

“Ambro, scout ahead. Let’s get off this glacier and back to the ship,” Lakima shouted.

Ambro began to cross the glacier avoiding a hill of snow on the ice. Then a strange creature erupted from the ice, an insectoid body 40 feet long covered in blue scales. The creature had a spine and crested head glowing red-hot with heat. In let out a strange raspy scream and launched itself at the adventurers.

“A remorhaz!” Lakima shouted, “Beware, its blood can damage weapons!”

Aldus and Ian moved back once they heard Lakima’s shouted warning. Eathwund, however, did not heed it, and he charged into battle against the creature, slashing into its soft belly. The creature turned to attack, but Eathwund managed to redirect its blows with his shield. Uldinia dropped the Jarl’s corpse in the snow and picked up a huge chunk of ice. Hurling it, the ice block crushed the head of the creature, and it lay still.

“Is it dead?” Aldus asked.

Ambro poked at the corpse and nodded to the group. Then she headed off, scouting ahead again. The rest of the company picked up their burdens, (sacks, backpacks, and a frost giant corpse), and followed. Ambro eventually returned and told everyone that the steps down from the glacier were clear.

“I can see the mast of the Cloudstealer in the distance,” Ambro shouted.

The company arrived at the camp their henchmen had built around the Cloudstealer late in the afternoon. Lakima told the assembled henchmen and the rescued prisoners what events had transpired. A snow squall came up, and everyone took cover under the tent in the camp or onboard the flying ship.

The following day Domago busied himself casting healing spells on Aldus and Ian until the two were almost back at full health. He used the remaining healing magic on Uldinia. Domago then cast speak with dead on the corpse of Jarl Grugnur. The Jarl’s spirit told them that the King Snurre Ironbelly of the Fire Giants was his ally in the war on humans. He also revealed that King Snurre took his orders from elves. The final question they asked gave the company the location of the Fire Giant Hall near an unnamed volcano in the Valen Peaks.

“We should set out for the Fire Giant Hall tomorrow,” Domago said.

“We have to go to Larm,” Lakima countered, “You are forgetting the prisoners we rescued.” Domago looked suitably embarrassed. Ulein, one of the prisoners, offered to try to lead the other prisoners to the wilderness road. Lakima told him that they would fly them to Larm. Having heard the words of the dead Jarl, her tormentor, Uldinia thanked the Company and told them she was long overdue for her planned visit to her uncle. She waved goodbye and walked off to the north.

The Cloudstealer, with the Company and guests onboard, headed south toward Larm. A two-day trip. Aelshara told the group that she would go with them to the Hall of the Fire Giants. The Cloudstealer only spent one night in Larm. They arrived late at night, dropped off the prisoners, and gave the militia captain the news of the giants. The following day, Lakima gathered some snow and cast the ritual spells needed to create a new simulacrum of Luna. Luna rose up from the ground once the spells were cast.

“That’s not natural,” Aldus said quietly.

Soon, the ship was airborne again, headed for the volcanic fields of the Fire Giants. Two days of flying brought them north enough over the Valen Peaks to see the unnamed volcano. The volcano was belching dark smoke, and a river of lava could be seen running down one slope. A large valley a few miles long lay before the volcano. The valley looked like a hellscape of volcanic vents and heaps of slag.

“There! On the side of that hill of slag,” Ambro shouted from the bow. Everyone moved to the railings to look. Two huge obsidian doors could be seen on the side of a slag hill. A flat area lay in front of the doors. Lakima brought the Cloudstealer down close to the ground a few hundred feet from the doors.

“If anyone approaches the ship, you ascend and get out of here,” Lakima told August, his apprentice. “I will know how to find you.”

Lakima, Eathwund, Aldus, Ambro, Domago, Ian, Luna, and Aelshara descended on a rope ladder to the ground below. Ambro ran forward to check the stone doors. The rest of the Company followed at a slower pace, Aldus and Eathwund in the lead.

“The doors are not locked or trapped,” Ambro said. “But there is no handle to open them.”

“Eathwund?” Lakima said.

Eathwund walked up to the doors and struggled to open one. It would not budge. He tried pushing and grabbing the bottom of the door and pulling. He moved on to the second door and found he was able to get his fingers under an edge. Using his giant strength, he pulled the door open. Beyond was a hallway lined with black stones. Huge red tapestries lined the walls at intervals. Flaming gas jet fixtures lit the hall. There was a distant echo of what might be giant footsteps.

“Wait,” Lakima said, “Domago cast a silence spell, and then I will step out of the area and cast a mass invisibility spell.”

“Right. Maybe we can get the drop on the giants!” Aldus said in agreement.

With the spells cast, the group enters the hall, invisible and silent. They walked boldly down the hall until Ambro signaled two creatures ahead. The group moved forward until they could all see two strange, two-headed giants carrying a pair of clubs each. The creatures, Lakima knew to be Ettin, swung their heads about from side to side, constantly scanning the area for intruders. The Ettin patrolled an enormous, well-lit hallway. Five-foot-in-diameter stone pillars held up the 60-foot-high ceiling. The dark stone floor was inlaid with swirls of lighter-colored stone. They could see a Fire Giant sitting on a large throne in the far distance to the east. Gems sparkled on the throne.

The Hall of the Fire Giant King

Lakima signaled the attack as Aldus, Ian, Domago, and Eathwund took positions beside the Ettins. They attacked, gaining surprise. The invisibility was dispelled once they made the first attack. But the surprise was enough to get the jump on the Ettins, and both were soon killed. While the attack had been silent, their fight had not gone unnoticed. A quartet of Fire Giants could be seen striding down the hallway toward them, with two enormous hellhounds leading. The Company vanquished the Fire Giants and the Hellhounds. Lakima dispelled the silence spell so they could speak again. He then cast a wall of iron spell blocking the passage they entered from.

“Why did you do that?” Aelshara asked.

“I don’t want to worry about someone coming up behind us.”

The group approached the throne area at the far end of the hall. The Fire Giant, who had been sitting on the throne, was gone.

“There was a King on this throne,” Lakima said, looking at the empty throne. He looked around but saw no passages from the throne area. The stone wall behind the throne was carved with bas-reliefs showing a Fire Giant King defeating dragons, fire giants, and other harder-to-identify monsters. Ambro approached the throne and checked it carefully. Once she was certain it was not trapped, she began prying dozens of gems out of the back and sides of the thrones.

“Fire opals and rubies,” Ambro said, “Finally, a giant with some treasure.”

Lakima checked the wall carefully but did not see any cracks that could indicate a door. He took out the Wand of Secret Door Detection and immediately discovered that one of the carvings of a Giant King concealed a door.

“Here is where he went!”

Ambro opened the secret door and ducked into the dark passage beyond. She returned after a short absence.

“There are no visible exits from the hallway,” Ambro said, looking at Lakima’s wand.

The entire Company entered the hallway and traveled to its end. Lakima took out the wand of secret door detection and immediately found a secret door.

“Eathwund, Aldus, you go first!” Lakima said and then triggered the door.

The secret door opened into the secret passage. It revealed a chamber carved from the rock, well-lit by gas lamps hanging on the walls. Directly before them was an enormous bed and four iron chests. In front of the bed, a group of four fire giants waited expectantly, weapons ready, behind a giant table they had tipped over for cover.

Lakima immediately cast a confusion spell. Fire Giants and their hellhound pets began shouting at each other. These shouts escalated to shoves and an all-out battle as fire giants attacked each other and the hellhounds. Into this confusing melee, Eathwund and Aldus began attacking distracted Fire Giants. The Hellhounds fell beneath the blades of the fire giants, and Aldus and Eathwund each killed a giant. Then, the fire giant leader arrived on the melee scene with four more hellhounds. Deducing that Lakima was the cause of the confusion, he picked up a boulder and hurled it at Lakima. The boulder struck Lakima, knocking him sideways. Luna took up a defensive position in front of Lakima. Lakima cast a mirror image spell to create four false images of himself.

Eathwund and Aldus brought down the last fire giants and began fighting through the hellhounds. Lakima cast flesh to stone on the Fire Giant king and was pleased to see it work. The king of the fire giants was turned to stone. Once the battle was ended, Lakima told Eathwund to tie up the Fire Giant. Eathwund pulled the rope from his sack and bound the giant statue as securely as possible. Lakima then pulled a scroll out of the bag of holding and cast stone to flesh.

The Fire Giant’s eyes opened, and he began to furiously struggle against the ropes. The sword he clutched in one hand burst into flames and burned through the ropes.

“Ambro. Tell him to surrender, or he will be killed!” Lakima shouted.

Ambro shouted at the Fire Giant in giantish telling him to surrender but the giant ignored her commands. The ropes burned through and he fell forward face-first on the stone floor.

“Get him!” Lakima shouted.

Eathwund, Ian, Domago, and Aldus all pummeled the Fire Giant on the floor. The giant took grievous wounds but struggled to his feet and shouted a war cry. He swung his giant, flaming sword at Eathwund, but the attack was blocked.

“Keep trying to get him to surrender!” Lakima shouted. Ambro continued yelling at the giant in his native tongue.

“Don’t kill him yet!” Lakima shouted.

Too late, Eathwund stabbed the giant through the chest, killing him. The fire giant tumbled to the floor dead.

“Oops,” Eathwund said.

“Ambro, scout ahead and make sure no more Fire Giants are headed our way,” Lakima shouted. “Domago. I hope you have speak with dead?”

Domago nodded and cast the spell. The ghostly spirit of the Fire Giant rose up from the corpse. The angry spirited swiped ineffectually at Domago with a ghostly sword.

“Who dares disturb King Snurre of the Fire Giants”

Lakima whispered to Domago the questions he wanted asked.

“Who is behind your attacks on the human realms?”

“I am following the orders of the Drow,” the spirit answered.

“How did you come into contact with the Drow?”

“I encountered their emissaries when clearing the deepest dungeons beneath these Halls.”

“Where do the Drow come from?”

“They come from the Underdark, miles beneath our feet.”

The spirit then sighed and vanished. The entire company stood there looking at the corpse. Slowly, everyone began to look at Lakima.

“Let’s leave,” Lakima said, “We have accomplished our task.”

“But what of the Drow,” Domago asked. “We should learn their plans.”

“The Giants were their instrument. The Drow cannot survive on the surface in the sunlight. Without the Giants, their schemes are finished.”

“I am not as certain as you,” Aelshara said. “We certainly broke the backs of the Hill Giants. But the Frost Giants still have numbers, and another Jarl will step forward. We have barely scratched the Fire Giants.”

“We killed their King. We have loped off the head of the beast,” Lakima said with finality. “Let’s leave this place and go home.”

At that moment, Ambro entered the chamber, dragging a large sack full of gold coins. She looked around at the silent group.

“What did I miss?”

The Fire Giants did not let the Company of the Black Dragon leave uncontested. Retracing their steps, they found gnolls and fire giants approaching the hall where they had fought the Ettins. Lakima cast a wall of ice to block their entrance to the Hall. The ice wall would not last long, but he cast repulsion on a projected image near the hall to allow them to escape. They found their exit blocked by the wall of iron that Lakima had created when they entered the dungeon. Lakima had to cast an acid finger spell to burn a hole through the iron wall. Eathwund was the first to step through the hole in the wall, and he was attacked by a Fire Giant guard. The guard was soon killed.

The Company exited the Hall of the Fire Giants and signaled August on the Cloudstealer. A rope ladder was tossed down to them, and everyone climbed back aboard the ship.

“That was quick?” August asked.

“They did not have much fight in them,” Lakima answered, “We are headed home to Edgerton.”

It took two days of uneventful travel to reach Edgerton. Once they arrived back at their Manor House, Lakima told the Company they needed to report to Duke Robert immediately. Aelshara told Lakima that she also should report. They took the portal to the Bridgeway and the Bridgeway to Dolmvay. Arriving near the palace, they were taken directly to meet with Duke Robert and his advisors.

Lakima told Duke Robert the story of their exploits. Robert asked whether they felt the threat of the Giants had been dealt with, and Lakima claimed it had. Robert told them that he had sent his flying ship with a company of knights to arrest his half-brother Uther. Uther abandoned his capital and fled to his stronghold, Fort Doom. Robert told them that even with a flying ship, a long siege would likely occur. Robert then tried to entice Aldus to take charge of the siege of Fort Doom in return for the title of Earl of Calwell. Aldus thanked Duke Robert but politely declined. 

The group returned to Edgerton and decided it was time to take a long break from adventuring. Domago wished to lead a company of priests to Aleenton to re-open the Shrine of St. Aleena. Eathwund had a new Inn in Peake’s Crossing to look after. Lakima had spell research he wished to complete. Aldus felt it was time for Ian to take the test to move from squire to knight. Aelshara said goodbye, telling them she wished to keep an eye on the giants in case any new trouble started. Ambro was silent and decided to wander the town, looking for something to do. She was troubled by dreams in which the Dark Lady warned of the threat from a Spider God.

Thus ended the adventures of the Company of the Black Dragon, for now.